DR. SEUSS – THE LORAX

How can a children story be used to teach Biology? Younger kids prefer to study using pictures, and this is also seen at university level.  Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is the perfect story to start teaching about environmental conservation. The story deals with pollution and over harvesting, how this impacts the environment, but more importantly, it ends with telling you that, no matter how bad things look, you can always make a difference and restore what was lost.  Here is a story retell, without the rhymes and pictures.

The story starts with a boy walking down a road leading to the Once-lers house to try and find out what happened to the Lorax.  When he gets to the Once-lers house, the Once-ler agrees to tell him the story, but he has to pay the Once-ler fifteen pence, a nail and a shell of a great-great-great-grandfather snail.  The Once-ler then tells the boy, that a long time ago, when he first came here, the land was filled with Truffula trees and animals such as the Brown Bar-ba-loots, Swomee Swans and Humming fish.  He looked at the tops of the Truffula trees and realized what nice thneeds (clothing) they would make. He chopped down the first tree and made a thneed that he quickly sold to somebody for three-ninety-eight.  After chopping off the first Truffula tree, the Lorax appeared at his house to try and discourage him from chopping off more trees.  “I’m busy” the Once-ler said, “shut-up if you please”.

The Once-ler, realizing the business potential, called his aunts and uncles to help him expand his business, and soon it was so big that they could not just chop one tree at a time, but started using a mechanical devise he called “my super-axe-hacker”.  The Lorax constantly shows up at the Once-lers house, now telling him about what is happening to the animals because of his business. The Lorax eventually had to send away the animals one by one as the Once-ler was not listening to him. The Brown Bar-ba-loots were sent away because without the Truffula trees, there was no more for them, the Swomee Swans because the smog in the air stopped their singing and the Humming fish because the goo that was released into their pond was covering their gills. 

Eventually, the last Truffula tree was cut down, and the Once-lers company closed and his aunts and uncles left.  The Lorax also leaves, leaving behind a small pile of rocks with the word “unless” on it.  The Once-ler tells the boy that he never understood what the Lorax meant by it, but now he does.  He explains to the boy that unless he does something to save the environment, no one will.  The Once-ler then gave the boy the last Truffula tree seed to keep safe and to try and restore the Truffula forest so that the animals can come back.

Just from the retell, you can already see the endless possibilities to use this in a conservation biology class.  Once you have discussed the story in class, and the students understand what the story behind the story is, try and get them to relate what happened in the story to a real life example. By them using a real example they can relate to, they will remember what you discussed in the class.